David Weightman

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Hi, I’m David. I’m a wedding photographer based in Surrey, in the UK.

I’m one of those photographers whose About Me page describes how I discovered an old camera lying around at home and have never looked back since.

For me, it was my grandfather’s old Zeiss Icon camera, and I was sixteen at the time. I began to learn more about photography as part of a GNVQ in Art & Design and went on to do a degree in Photography at the University for the Creative Arts in Surrey.

Early in my career, I dabbled with fashion and editorial photography and was lucky enough to cover Paris Fashion Week. Shooting a cover story for one of the Sunday supplements in the UK.

In 2003-2004 I was awarded a scholarship to work for Benetton in Italy at their communication research centre, Fabrica. On my return to England, I had the opportunity to shoot a few weddings for family and friends before I eventually launched my business in 2007.

I’m drawn to the uncanny and humorous moments of a wedding day, and as someone who promotes themselves as a documentary wedding photographer, I’m particularly interested in the way different generations come together on the day.

I actually find the idea of documentary wedding photography slightly problematic, and I put this down to the photo theory lectures we received at college and exposure to the contemporary art photography scene.

Although I’m passionate about the documentary approach (I use the term a lot in my marketing), I find the fact that the client is also the main subject of our pictures to be rather at odds with creating an entirely honest representation of their wedding.

I’m digressing somewhat, but it’s why, from time to time, I like to do personal projects that explore different aspects of weddings. I’ve just completed a project in which I documented a mother of the bride and her daughter making her wedding dress.

In recent years I have also completed a series of portraits of recently engaged couples attending one of the big wedding fairs here in the UK and a series of mixed media portraits of the longest married couple at each wedding I attended that particular year.

Cameras

Sony A9 x 2 – these cameras gave my photography a new lease of life when I switched from Nikon. I will choose a prime lens to put on one body that I think will be most useful for that part of the day or if I have a particular shot in mind. The other A9 has the zoom lens attached.

My main Sony A9 is set up with bounce flash, either with Pixapro 350II, or I will use this as a trigger to fire the more powerful Pixapro Pika200, which I’ve been known to hand hold on the dance floor!

That might sound excessive, but with the MagSphere from Magmod attached, it gives a quality of light that is quite beautiful, and the recycle time is instantaneous.

My second A9 is then used as my ambient light “walk around” camera.

Part of my philosophy on weddings is that there could be important moments happening anywhere at any time, so I don’t want to restrict myself to only shooting the dance floor in the evening.

Sony A7c – my most recent purchase mainly as a travel camera, but for weddings, I leave it set up with my Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 and a Godox/Pixapro 350II on a flash cable from Vello.

So during the evening of the wedding, I will have three cameras set up.

With the A7c, I use direct flash, stop the lens to f/8 and focus manually to around one and a half metres. This combination works really well as the LCD screen is clearly visible in the dark. Great on the dance floor!

Lenses

Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 Contemporary – I recently traded in my Sony GM 24-70mm f/2.8 for this much smaller and lighter zoom.

I’m loving how well-balanced it is on my Sony A9, and it’s attached to my main camera ninety per cent of the time.

It is quite possibly the perfect lens for my style of photography!

Needless to say, I am a big advocate for using a zoom lens at weddings.

Sony Zeiss Sonnar 55mm f/1.8 – one of Sony’s smallest lenses and one that I’m unlikely to ever sell. This one is mostly used at winter weddings.

Sony Zeiss Distagon 35mm f/1.4 – this is my get-out-of-jail lens in low light situations or when I really want to blur out the background.

Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 – this lens has a focal distance that gets me close enough but still gives me enough space in the frame to be creative with my composition. Usually for the ceremony and speeches.

Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 – my perfect dance floor lens.

Sony Zeiss Sonnar 35mm f/2.8 – this is a great travel lens and a good backup. It was one of my first lenses when I switched from Nikon to Sony, as it encapsulated the potential of the mirrorless system at the time.

Lighting

Pixapro 350II x 3 – I love that they run on lithium-ion batteries, and using one of them as a trigger is very reliable.

Pixapro Pika 200TTL – so versatile and so powerful. It’s like having a studio strobe in your bag!

Iwata Genius Pro – this LED light is the size of a large mobile phone and is great to have in an emergency for that rare occasion when I might need to boost the light levels or give the autofocus a helping hand.

I use a Lowepro Tahoe 150 Backpack , which is a simple rucksack that almost carries everything that I need. For a great lightweight stand that is perfect for destination weddings, I use the Manfrotto Nanopole.

Some of the other gear I carry is a Think Tank Lens Changer 25 V3.0 which is great for carrying an extra lens, spare SD cards and a lens cloth.

Not to forget my Black Widow Spider Holster which is such a simple design yet perfect for any mirrorless camera.

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